Europe Debt, Europe Debt Crisis | featured news

The Portuguese government is planning the country's biggest spending cuts in 50 years, a move it described as "unprecedented".

By insisting that it receive collateral from Greece in return for aid, Finland threatens to upend an agreement that euro zone countries made in July to expand the E.U. bailout fund.

U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the eurozone crisis and financial-market turbulence on Saturday and vowed action to bolster the global economy, the White House said in a statement.

Several European countries that banned short-selling have extended the prohibition until the end of September. When concerns about European banks’ exposure to Greek debt sent their stocks plummeting two weeks ago, market regulators in Belgium, France, Greece, Italy and Spain stepped in to prohibit traders from betting on the decline in a share’s price.

Wall Street ended a fourth week of losses on a down note on Friday as most buyers left the market before the weekend on growing fears of another U.S. recession and destabilization in Europe's financial system.

Stock markets in Asia opened sharply lower Friday amid signs of a possible U.S. recession and renewed worries over the financial health of Europe's banks.

The price of gold streaked past $1,700 an ounce for the first time Monday. Investors, beset by worries about the U.S. debt downgrade, Europe's financial crisis and slowing global growth, sought safety in the metal as stocks tumbled around the world.

Investors fled Wall Street in the worst stock-market selloff since the middle of the financial crisis in early 2009 in what has turned into a full-fledged correction. The Dow and the S&P tumbled more than 4 percent on Thursday and the Nasdaq lost 5 percent on fear the United States is staring at another recession and that Europe's sovereign debt crisis is swallowing two of its largest economies.

As markets continued to hammer Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi rebutted calls for his resignation, saying Italy’s economic fundamentals were strong.

Standard & Poor's cuts Greece's credit rating, saying eurozone plans to restructure the country's debts would constitute a default.